


Yellow Eyes

by marvcltrash



Series: The Black Cat College AU [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: College AU, Trans Male Pidge | Katie Holt, Trans Pidge, hunk is really dedicated to his friends, it's more pre-ship than anything, klance is background, nonbinary hunk, pidge is only mentioned, srsly that's almost more the focus that hunk/shay romance, there is a lot of brotp: hunk and lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-24 12:08:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7507708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvcltrash/pseuds/marvcltrash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Person A and Person B live in buildings opposite each other and have never met. One night, Person A forgets to cover the windows and Person B sees them dancing. Whether or not Person A notices is up to you.<br/>Bonus: Person A notices and continues just to keep the show going.<br/>Double Bonus: Person B joins in.</p><p>Probably makes more sense if you read the rest of the Black Cat College AU, but hell, knock yourself out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yellow Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> This didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but I'm proud of it, I suppose. AND IT'S STILL 7/16/16, SO I MET A DEADLINE I SET FOR ONCE. By the skin of my teeth, sure, but I still have like 40 min to post this.

They were in his geology class, the one he took for an elective. They were sweet, kind, and just as tall as him, if not taller, which was something he liked. Sometimes, Hunk liked to feel small. And, along with all of the other things that made them the perfect human for Hunk, they had these killer yellow eyes, shining and almost glowing in the light. He supposed that the base was brown, but the yellow overtones drowned it out, beautiful. Their voice was higher than he would have guessed for someone of their stature, but it somehow fit them perfectly. They were the most all-around charming person he had ever met.

He hadn’t said a single word to them. He never really talked to people he liked, unless he knew they would be better as friends; that’s how he became friends with Lance, and sort of with Pidge. Hunk was a little in love with all of his friends, and spent a lot of time catering to  their  needs and taking care of them in the ways he knew how. Shay, as the person from geology class was called, would probably make a good friend, but that wasn’t what Hunk wanted. He wanted those yellow eyes to focus on him, and he wanted to feel like the only person in the universe. As if. 

It was time to clear up from the class, and Hunk left with a heavy heart in tow, as well as his heavy books for the course. He wasn’t sure why he had elected to take this elective, seeing as he was a culinary major, not any kind of scientist. I mean, sure, he fiddled around with electronics and could probably fix just about anything in his dorm, but he was no geologist. Not like Shay. They were soft spoken, but Hunk sat relatively close to them and who he gathered was their older brother, Rax. According to Rax’s bad attitude, he didn’t even want to go to university. He came to keep Shay safe, and though Hunk was glad for the sentiment, Shay seemed choked by the attention their brother gave them. 

It wasn’t his business. The walk back to the dorm he shared with Lance was full of peace, as most things involving only Hunk (and not his rowdy friends) were. Shay was walking back to their dorm approximately ten or fifteen steps behind him, based on the the sheer volume of their brother’s voice. They walked into the building across from Hunk’s, though Rax followed Hunk into his own building. They mustn’t have been able to grab a co-ed dorm, like Hunk was sure Rax would have wanted. It was so not his business. 

Lance met him on the ground floor holding two cups of Starbucks, one of which he was sipping at delicately. The other was bright red, and Hunk could have fallen to the floor and kissed Lance’s feet with how thankful he was for a smoothie right now. “Have I mentioned how much I love you lately?” Hunk asked, before Lance even noticed him walking up. “Honey, you’re home! And, you could mention it more, by way of baked goods,” Lance laughed, giving him his drink, and Hunk felt another rush of affection for him. He loved his friends. 

“How was class?” Lance asked before they got to the elevator, and his entire face fell into a scowl. “You do not live here,” he snapped at the person already in the elevator, Keith, who Hunk could already see in the beginning stages of annoyed. “I’ve lived in this building all semester, dipshit,” Keith replied, slowing breathing in a way Hunk associated with meditation, but he chose not to comment. “Can you try calling me something other than dipshit?” Lance snapped back, and if not for the soon opportunity for a pun, Hunk would have tuned out. “Like what?” Keith replied, like he didn’t understand the opportunity here at all. 

“How about sunrise land?” Hunk singsonged, delighted with this momentous occasion he had been given. It made Lance laugh, which was worth something (a lot, to Hunk), but Keith only looked confused, head tilted. It occurred to him that Keith may not actually know what they were talking about. “It’s a meme,” he explained, and Keith nodded, which immediately rectified the vague guilt that had been settling in Hunk’s stomach. “God, this guy doesn’t even know his memes,” Lance muttered at perhaps half volume, but due to the close proximity, everyone had heard him. Hunk laughed inside of his head, but not out loud. 

Keith looked  _ really  _ irritated, which wasn’t surprisingly with, you know,  _ Lance  _ in attending. “Not that this isn’t, like, so much fun, but has anybody pressed any of the buttons? I would like to get to my dorm sometime this year,” Keith said, harsh enough to almost feel sudden. He hoped Keith didn’t dislike him just because Lance was… Lance. Hunk shrugged when he realised that they actually  _ hadn’t _ , and pressed the number for  their  floor, which immediately made Keith perk up a little. “You live on eight? Me and Shiro live on nine,” he said quickly, though he looked spaced for the second afterward, like regret. 

“So does Pidge!” Hunk exclaimed when they realised that, in fact, he did. “What kind of name is Pidge?” the shortest among them asked, and they could feel their face harden a little, but they smoothed it back out quickly. “It’s his,” was all he said in reply, seeing Lance making a similar expression to his. Keith dropped it faster than anyone ever had before, a trait Hunk was particularly glad for, but he wasn’t quite so fond of the flash of fear on the shorter male’s face; no one should feel scared. “So, I hear you and Lance are having a little tournament Saturday,” Hunk changed the subject quickly, wanting to get away from that look. 

“I don’t know where you heard that, I’m still not completely convinced I’ll show up,” Keith went with it, and Hunk was glad to have something to tease Lance with, so he wouldn’t hold a grudge against Keith’s hesitation with Pidge’s name. “I mean, I wouldn’t,” they replied, mostly to stop whatever was about to come out of Lance’s mouth, and his friend looked a mite betrayed, with eyes narrowed at both of them. “You’re just messing with me!” he announced, loudly, after a moment, and Hunk chuckled at his facial expressions. 

“Hunk, my bestest friend in the whole, wide world, and Keith! A guy with little to no sense of humor! Hunk, the man doesn’t even know his memes!” Lance continued, hands flying in Hunk’s personal space, but he was used to it. Lance had never had a concept of personal space, so it wasn’t like it was anything new. “Need to tell Pidge he’s been promoted,” his friend muttered next, and Hunk held himself back from actually becoming scared, like he would have earlier in  their  friendship, but feigned hurt none the less, grasping at the collar of his own shirt. 

“You can’t be mean to me and then make me want to take it back. I’m sorry, Hunk. You’re bestie position is still on lock, I promise,” Lance groaned, laying a light punch on Hunk’s shoulder with a new grin. Keith had the owlish look in his eyes again, and when Lance looked back at him - oh. Hunk knew that face. Before Lance could say or do something he would definitely regret later, the elevator rung  their  floor, and Hunk announced “Well, this is our floor!” Then, “Good to see you again, Keith!” he called behind him, though he wasn’t exactly it was good for Lance, being as he had the emotionally constipated version of heart eyes again. 

Hunk was glad to see Keith again, and that was enough, right? Hunk wasn’t as quick to dislike people as Lance always was, with his firecracker temper and loud mouth, but that was part of the reason Hunk had liked him in the first place, no? That, and the Spanish thing. They had been the only native Spanish-speakers of  their  age in a small town in North Carolina, but Lance was also good at English, and charming in either language. Well, a massive dork, but charming. 

Hunk dragged him back to  their  dorm, on the North East corner of the building and one of four dorms that had two windows. When the door closed behind both of them, he rounded on Lance, eyebrows raised and a smile tinging his features. “You’re into your ‘ _ rival _ ’ aren’t you,  _ acere _ ?” Hunk teased, wiggling his eyebrows and pulling Lance to sit on his bed. They used to talk about high school crushes on each other’s beds, more Spanish than English, but it was odd for them to use too much Spanish now. It was kind of sad. 

“I am so not, dude,’” Lance rushed, always using vehement denial as his first defense, like he had since they were kids. All Hunk had to do was wait before Lance broke again, shoulders slumping. “It’s just - did you look at his eyes, Hunk? Did you look at them? And his stupid hair and that fucking jacket that can burn in hell. He’s so stupid,” words streamed out of them until he was kind of done, though Hunk knew the words wouldn’t  _ really  _ stop until the crush did. Lance sure did like to talk. It was a good thing Hunk liked to listen. 

“ _ No pares, sigue sigue _ !” Hunk teased him on, grin widening with Lance’s obvious embarrassment (he would have stopped if the embarrassment had been real - he had walked that road himself too many times). “Leave me alone, _ cabrón _ ,” Lance snipped back, defensive. “And how would your  _ madre  _ and  _ mamá _ feel about that kind of language, Lance?” he continued to tease, and Lance’s face paled a little before he seemed to remember that they were a thousand miles away from the coast of North Carolina, and even further away from Cuba, where Lance’s moms had retired to once Lance’s little sister graduated high school. 

“Don’t play me like that, man!” he exclaimed, half tackling Hunk back onto the bed, and despite being able to hold up against Lance’s skinny ass, Hunk went with it. They wrapped Lance up in their arms and used his own smallness against him, trapping him. “You done?” they asked, moving one hand to mess up Lance’s hair. “I’ll never be done with you, Hunkalicious,” Lance replied, using his ‘smooth’ voice even crushed against Hunk’s chest. Hunk rolled their eyes and shoved him off, laughing loudly and sitting back up. “You’re so into Keith, man,” they said, using their least joking tone. “Yeah.”

 

* * *

 

Lance was off to his Organic Chemistry class, which meant Hunk could break out his tunes and his disinfectant spray to straighten up  their  dorm. Neither himself nor Lance were particularly messy individuals (for Lance, having six siblings could do that to you; for Hunk, having no siblings could do that to you), but once a week, Hunk did a deep clean of their room, not because they really needed it, but because he enjoyed it. It also gave him a chance to dance without anyone judging him, curtains open to let in the light and give him a natural air to clean. 

_ Gasolina  _ was the first song that played on his headphones, and he must have been on Lance’s playlist, though he didn’t really mind, just for cleaning.  _ But _ , cleaning was his time to be  _ away  _ from the influence of anyone else, so he flipped his itunes to all of his music, putting it on shuffle.  _ Classic  _ by MKTO played in his headphones, and though it was a bit more romantically oriented than his usually cleaning music, he put it on repeat, swaying his hips, and got to cleaning. He sang along, loud, because the dorm next to him had been there long enough to know his routine, surely, by now. 

He was full-tilt dancing as he wiped the thin layer of dust off of the top of  their  bookcase, after fixing both of  their  beds and putting  their  shoes in a line by the door. “ Four dozen of roses

anything for you to notice, on the way to serenade you, doing it Sinatra style,” Hunk sang, rocking his head to the beat and grinning, tidying Lance’s things. He happened to look out the window when - there they were. Shay. And, from the look on their face, they had seen everything that had happened in the last few minutes, or even the last few seconds. They waved from the other window and Hunk felt his entire face turn red before he returned to what he was doing, focussing on anything else. 

He was distracted again less than a minute later, though this time by Shay waving a bit more quickly. They tilted their head and made a motion like dancing, like they wanted him to start dancing again, as if that wasn’t embarrassing enough once. Hunk shifted his shoulders and hips in a smaller version of his usual dancing, and with the light of their smile, he danced more openly, and they danced too, though more shakily. From a distance of forty or so feet and two walls, they danced together. It was probably the most romantic occasion of Hunk’s entire life, including anyone he had ever kissed in high school. This felt, somehow, more intimate. 

 

* * *

 

Seeing Shay in class the coming Monday was an exercise in both blushing and struggling not to be noticed by their older brother, who had a protective streak too wide for Hunk to cross alone. There was a partners project assigned in the beginning of class, and, for once, Rax couldn’t grab Shay before anyone else could. They were assigned partnerships, done by a random system that happened to work in Hunk’s favor, just this once. He was usually stuck with someone who vastly underestimated his intelligence potential, which always made Lance angry just hearing the stories, and that wasn’t something Hunk wanted him to have to deal with. 

Instead, by fate’s wish, he got Shay. Rax was glaring daggers at him, sharp and venomous, but Hunk could barely focus past his own anxiety, counting breaths as he walked to place his things down beside her. They smiled at him and his heart skipped, which he kind of thought was just a saying until he met Lance, but by now was so used to it, it felt like normal. “I’m Hunk, he/him/they/them, you?” he said, the first part mostly correctionary, as  their  names were announced with the assignment - he still hadn’t filed to change the roster from his birthname. “I’m Shay,” they said, delicate and smaller than he ever expected it to be. “And I’m not sure what the second thing means?” 

That might be the slightest inclination of a problem. “They’re pronouns. I’m nonbinary, so I use he/him/they/them because that’s what I’m comfortable being called by when people talk about me, like, for example, I might call you  _ her _ in conversation, if you were comfortable with that,” Hunk explained calmly, like he explained every time.  their  eyes seemed to light up a little, and the yellow shined. “Do you think you could explain nonbinary to me?” Shay asked, their voice even smaller than usual, and he wanted to simultaneously wrap them in a blanket and make them hot cocoa. 

“Okay, so a lot of people think of gender as one of two things, right? Girl or boy. Well, gender is actually a spectrum, and you can fall anywhere on it as you are comfortable with. I’m masculine and agender, so I use the pronouns he/him/they/them. Agender means having no gender association at all, completely lacking in masculine or feminine qualities. I also have a friend who is gender fluid, and their pronouns change almost daily. Gender is one of those things you get to define for yourself, like sexuality and romantic orientation. No one can tell you that you’re wrong. Even if you have to come out multiple times, you are completely free,” Hunk rambled on, looking up at Shay’s eyes once he was done with his speech. 

“I,” they started, before stopping again and leaning closer. “I don’t have to be a girl?” they asked, quiet, with their head tilted.  _ Ay, dios mio. _ “The only thing you  _ have  _ to be is yourself, Shay,” Hunk replied, just as low. Their eyes shined again. “I’m Shay, she/her/they/them, for now,” they supplied, and Hunk smiled. “Whatever works for you, and no one else, Shay. And, just so you know, you don’t have to come out if you don’t want to, and at least not right away. You can come out when you’re comfortable. You don’t owe anyone anything,” Hunk continued, and they nodded, smiling. 

This was a surprisingly intimate conversation to be having with someone who was nearly a stranger, thinking on it. Everything with Shay seemed surprisingly intimate. A part of Hunk, a part that may or may not be called  _ fear _ screamed from the pit of his stomach. He was so much better at dating people he didn’t care about as much as his friends. Shay was creeping up on him with affection and cuteness and automatic intimacy. What was he supposed to do with that? 

“Okay, so what’s the assignment?” he said, instead of staying in emotional territory. 

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me @marvcltrash on tumblr if you want to send any requests or talk at all! Also, comments and kudos are hella appreciated. Also, if you go down into the comments, you'll see that I promised to update on Wednesday, 7/20/16. I can't do that. There are many more scenes that I originally accounted for in the next part, titled Blue Moon, which will update by Saturday, the 23rd of July. To track updates, the tag #bccauupdate is what I'll hashtagging on tumblr if you'd like to track it. If you have any prompts or requests, in the Black Cat College AU or in a separate venue, message me @marvcltrash on tumblr!


End file.
